• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.825-830
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• 2009

Pharmaceutical compounds enter the water environment through the diverse pathways. Because their concentration in the water environment was frequently detected in the level of ppt to ppb, the monitoring system should be optimized as much as possible for finding appropriate management policies and technical solutions. One Factor At a Time (OFAT) approach approximating the response with a single variable has been preferred for the optimization of LC-MS/MS operational conditions. However, it is common that variables in analytical instruments are interdependent. Therefore, the best condition could be found by using the statistical optimization method changing multiple variables at a time. In this research, response surface analysis (RSA) was applied to the LC-MS/MS analysis of emerging antibiotic compound, sulfamethoxazole, for the best sensitivity. In the screening test, fragmentation energy and collision voltage were selected as independent variables. They were changed simultaneously for the statistical optimization and a polynomial equation was fit to the data set. The correlation coefficient, $R^2$ valuerepresented 0.9947 and the error between the predicted and observed value showed only 3.41% at the random condition, fragmentation energy of 60 and collision voltage of 17 eV. Therefore, it was concluded that the model derived by RSA successfully predict the response. The optimal conditions identified by the model were fragmentation energy of 116.6 and collision voltage of 10.9 eV. This RSA can be extensively utilized for optimizing conditions of solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2008

We evaluated the relationship between birth weight and mercury exposure levels in Seoul, Korea, by following a cohort of pregnant women and the outcomes of their pregnancies between 2001-2005. Eighty-five pregnant women were recruited into this study after obtaining informed consent. Samples were collected at delivery from normal pregnant women who were living in the city of Seoul, Korea. Mercury concentrations in 85 sets of maternal and cord blood samples were measured using a gold-amalgam collection method. We used multiple regression analysis to analyze the effect of mercury exposure on birth weight. The mean levels of total mercury concentrations were 5.41(ppb) in maternal blood of pregnant women and 3.58(ppb) in umbilical cord blood. The mean concentration of umbilical cord blood mercury exposures was higher than the level recommended by WHO. There was a significant correlation between maternal and cord blood mercury concentrations. Mercury concentrations of umbilical cord blood was associated with birth weight. In addition, after adjusting for potential confounding factors, we found that mercury exposure may reduce the birth weight. This study suggests that exposure to mercury concentration during pregnancy contributes to the risk of low birth weight. Therefore, prenatal and environmental education for various and possible sources of mercury exposure might be necessary for the good health of babies. The finding of this study supports the construction of national policy for environmental health management.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.625-637
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• 2003

This study was performed to examine the relationship between air pollution exposure and mortality in Seoul for the years of 1998∼2001. Daily counts of death were analyzed by general additive Poisson model, with adjustment for effects of seasonal trend, air temperature, humidity, and day of the week as confounders in a nonparametric approach. Daily death counts were associated with CO (current day),O$_3$ (current day), PM$_{10}$ (current day), NO$_2$ (1 day before), SO$_2$ (1 day before). Increase of 41.71 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ (interquartile range) in PM$_{10}$ was associated with 1.3% (95% CI = 0.7∼1.9％) increase in the daily number of death. $O_3$ concentrations resulted in an increased risk of 1.3% for 23.86 ppb in all-aged mortality [RR = 1.013 (1.004-1.023)1. This effect was greater in children (less than 15 aged) and elderly (more than 65 aged). After ozone level exceeds 25 ppb, the dose-response relationship between mortality and ozone was almost linear. We concluded that Seoul had 1∼5％ increase in mortality in association with IQR (interquartile range) in air pollutants. Daily variations in air pollution within the range currently occurring in Seoul might have an adverse effect on daily mortality. These findings also support the hypothesis that air pollution, at levels below the current ambient air quality standards of Korea, is harmful to sensitive subjects, such as children or elderly.rly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.1800-1806
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vanadium water (VW) on cancer-related fatigue of non-advanced cancer patients. For the experimental group administration, participants consumed three 500 mL/bottle bottles of Jeju Island's VW, which contained 15~20 ppb of vanadium, three times a day (morning, afternoon, evening) for 4 weeks (28 days) without any additional treatments for fatigue improvement. The control group participants consumed three 500 mL/bottle bottles of ordinary water (0 ppb of vanadium) three times a day for the same period of time without any additional treatments for fatigue improvement. After 4 weeks of VW consumption, total score of Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (RPFS) was reduced 30% compared to the basal score after Fisher's Exact Test which resulted in a statistical borderline significance (p=0.0799) and result of t-test of comparison between two groups' RPFS total score and fatigue cognitive/mood changes resulted in a statistical significance (p=0.0112). In detail, only 36.4% of control group (N=11) showed improvement while 77.8% of treatment group (N=9) showed fatigue improvement. No other lab measures, including thyroid hormone level indicated any significant differences between two groups. In conclusion, daily consumption of 1.5 L of vanadium water for 4 weeks showed improvement of non-advanced cancer patients' fatigue.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2001

Olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus known as an one of the major aquacultured species in Korea were exposed to cadmium(Cd) with different protocols and analyzed the effects of exposure on the immune response. Antibody levels in sera of the group exposed to Cd(20ppb) by immersion method from 2 weeks before immuniztion with formalinised Edwardsiella tarda(E. tarda) KFE entigen to the end of experiment reached to peak level faster than that of the non-exposed group. After this peaking time the levels decreased much at a faster rate compared to the non-exposed group. This tendency was also appeared in the numbers of specific antibody secreting cells(SASC) analyzed with the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT)-assay technique in the splenocytes of the experimental groups exposed to Cd with different ways. Interestingly, the group exposed to Cd for 2 weeks before immunization also showed increased numbers of SASC unlikely the antibody production and suggested a more critical influence of cadmium exposure in early stage of immune reaction. Artificial infection with live E. tarda KFE induces 100% mortality in the flounder exposed to cadmium throughout the experimental period from two weeks before the immunization. It may imply that some other factors related to specific immunity are involving in the defence system of flounder exposed to Cd. Taked together. Cd exposure may induce temporaily stimulatory or indhibitory effects on the immune reaction, but suppress the physiological systems for the resistant against the infective agents with other toxic effects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 1984

The water quality and the budget of pollutant loading in the downstream of Nakdong River were surveyed at 3 sites along the main stream from Mulgum to Hadan and 1 site of Yangsan tributary with response to the tides in May and June, 1983. The level of TSS in the Yangsan tributary, 6.1~21.3mg/l, was higher than any other site. The mean values of BOD were 1.16mg/l at Mulgum site, 1.83mg/l Yangsan site, 0.79mg/l Hwamyeong site and 3.56mg/l at Hadan site. The levels of NH sub(4) super(+)-N and PO sub(4) super(3-)-P were the highest at Hadan site, and the levels of zinc and copper were 2.11~5.98ppb and ND-50.00ppb at Yangsan tributary site. Although the flow rate of Yangsan stream accounted for only 4% of that of main stream, but the mean value of pollutant loading in the Yangsan stream amounted to 8.3% of the that of main steam.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.212-218
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• 2011

In this study, temporal stability of 5 reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs) including ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, $CS_2$, and DMDS) was investigated up to 30 days. To learn the temporal changes in RSC concentration levels, two types of long-term storage experiment were carried out by employing two different approaches for sample storing in Tedlar bag samplers. The first one named as a forward (F) storage method consists of preparing all samples in the beginning of experiment. All these samples were analyzed sequentially through time. The second approach named as a reversed (R) storage method was carried out by preparing each sample through time and by analyzing all of them in the last day. For these experiments, RSC standards were prepared at 10 ppb in 10 L Tedlar bag. The results of both methods were consistent enough to show a tendency of the concentration reduction through time. Moreover, the lightest RSC, $H_2S$ showed the most significant reduction of 84.8% at the end of experiment. To validate difference between these results, t-test was applied to the data obtained between the two methods at 90% significance level. According to t-test, the results of the two approaches were greatly distinguished from 3 RSCs ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, and DMDS). The results also indicated that the temporal reduction of RSC differs greatly between light ($H_2S$ and $CH_3SH$) and heavy RSCs (DMS, DMDS, and $CS_2$). The former generally exhibited much significant reduction through time due probably to their lower stability.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.349-357
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• 2003

The universality of low molecular weight metabolites (i.e. amino acids, steroid hormones) allows rapid and straightforward investigation of biochemistry of genetically un-characterized species. Thus in vivo metabolic profiling of amino acid in combination with multivariate data analysis (metabolomics) offers great potential in comparative biology. In this paper, amino acid profiles in biological fluid (media) were studied by using HPLC/FLD. HPLC procedure for amino acids require the formation of derivatives due to the low absorption of the free compounds. o-Phthalaldehyde (OPA) used in association with a thiol, such as 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA), is one of the most popular and sensitive reagents, which yield quickly fluorescent iso-indoles at room temperature. To improve unstability of OPA/3-MPA derivatization, we optimized injector programs for fixed injection times. Linear regressions for the standard curves were linear in the range 0.5 - 100.0 ppb, giving correlation coefficents above 0.99. The detection limit were 1.70 pmol(GLU) - 23.81 pmol(SER). It is practically useful when the amount of sample is very low on single cells.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.495-508
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• 2013

Recently, stable isotopes (${\delta}^{18}O$ and ${\delta}D$) of water are increasingly analyzed using laser-based technologies. These methods have advantages over Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) in that they can be used for in-situ measurements and require much less maintenance and preparation work. Two types of laser-based methods are currently available, which have different analytical principles; OA-ICOS (off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy) and WS-CRDS (wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy). In the WS-CRDS instrument, water is vaporized at controlled environment and transferred to an optical cavity by nitrogen carrier gas, and stable isotopic compositions of water vapor are measured using the degree of absorbance of specific wavelengths and the ratios of attenuation time of the laser intensity with the sensitivity of ppb to tens of ppt level. In this study, we introduce the principle of the WS-CRDS technology and the performance results including stability and comparisons with Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) and suggest possible applications of various topics in isotope hydrology.

• Atmosphere
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.511-523
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• 2019

A new Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) airborne measurement platform has been established for regular observations for scientific purpose over South Korea since late 2017. CRDS G-2401m analyzer mounted on the King Air 350HW was used to continuous measurement of CO₂, CH₄ and CO mole fraction. The total uncertainty of measurements was estimated to be 0.07 ppm for CO₂, 0.5 ppb for CH₄, and 4.2 ppb for CO by combination of instrument precision, repeatability test simulated in-flight condition and water vapor correction uncertainty. The airborne vertical profile measurements were performed at a regional Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Anmyeon-do (AMY) station that belongs to the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and provides concurrent observations to the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) overpasses. The vertical profile of CO₂ shows clear altitude gradient, while the CH₄ shows non-homogenous pattern in the free troposphere over Anmyeon-do. Vertically averaged CO₂ at the altitude between 1.5 and 8.0km are lower than AMY surface background value about 7 ppm but higher than that observed in free troposphere of western pacific region about 4 ppm, respectively. CH₄ shows lower level than those from ground GAW stations, comparable with flask airborne data that was taken in the western pacific region. Furthermore, this study shows that the combination of CH₄ distribution in free troposphere and trajectory analysis, taking account of convective mixing, is a useful tool in investigating CH₄ transport processes from tropical region to Korean region in winter season.